They Guys' First Movie

Caleb, Reuben, Nick, and Sam put together this cool little gunfight clip - pretty impressive for their first short movie! :)  Good job guys!

Ride and Showing To The Town Of Downing

Yesterday was a pretty busy day! :)  Me, mom and Tikvah went on an 8 mile ride (we were guesstimating that number - it was somewhere around 8 miles).  We went up Jenkins and cut across some property and went up to Soft Rock, then back down the road way - Soft Rock road to Summerdale and on :)  Here are some pics - the ones of my back I didn't know Tikvah was taking - I guess she was getting me back from doing that to her a few times :P

Mom on crunch

Me and Tikvah

Showing for "To The Town Of Downing"!!!
Then in the evening we went to the showing for the movie I was in - "To The Town Of Downing"
I thought we would just eat dessert and watch the movie, and visit a little - but they sprung it on me that I was going to have to go up on stage with the rest of the cast.  Luckily I didn't have to give a speech, but I didn't like it much :P  Then I had another surprise when I was already up there - they had planned to sing a song (that I didn't know), so I was up there trying to keep up but finally gave up :P I found out later that most of the people didn't know it either....lol

But the movie was amazing!!!  I laughed through almost the whole thing! :)  You can buy it HERE

Josiah Van Kirk

Left to right: Promise, Elisa, Naomi, Shanae, Hannah, and Tikvah

Tikvah and Naomi trying to hid behind their hats :P

LOL

The boys

Playing in "To the Town of Downing"

"To the Town of Downing" is a western murder mystery.  Made by the same family who did "The Code of the Strain Express".  I am just in the town scenes again - background person.  I had a little bit more of a personal part this time though.  Like when they bring the dead man in to town I was supposed to walk by with a horrified face like I was shocked :)  In that scene I messed up a bit.  We had to do it over and over again because Luke (who was the dead man) kept moving or looking out of the coat that was around his head and making faces :) lol  And the last time they did it I forgot to go across - and then I said "Oh no!  I forgot to go!", and Josiah said "Shh! They're still filming!" - that was embarrassing!  Or in another part I was walking across the road and a horse was going to gallop by and I had to run to get out of the way.  So, it was a little more than just walking across the scene like in the last one.  Here is the trailer to the movie!!!

It almost looks like a real movie! :)

Finally! The Code of the Strain Express full movie!

Lessons from "Tangled"

I don't know how many of you saw the movie "Tangled"?  Our family just watched it and there are a couple things I'd like to say about it.

When will my life begin?

"Stuck in the same place I've always been

I just keep wanderin' and wanderin' and

wanderin' and wanderin' 

when will my life begin?"

-Tangled

A lot of girls these days when they get out of high school or college (if you go for that sort of thing - this is another topic altogether) and wonder 'when will my life begin?'  The thing they are missing is that their lives began at conception.  They don't have to wait for anything.  They should be focusing on the roll God called them to play at THIS moment in their lives.  Sometimes they think that it will begin when they get married or have kids - but if you are feeling like this now then when you get married you will feel the same way, and then when you have kids.  As a young lady in my father's house what I need to be focusing on now is learning from my wonderful mother how to keep a home and serve in the community.  She is a beautiful example of both of those things and I aspire to be just like her!  Even if I don't get married I still have an important roll God has called me to play in this world and I need stay busy in the things He has me doing now.

The mother - daughter relationship:

The other thing I noticed in the Tangled movie is the terrible mother-daughter relationship this portrays.  I know the witch is pretending to be her mother but it really makes it seem like it is O.K. to be rebellious to your authorities - which when you are in the home are your mother and father.  Colossians 3:20 ESV says "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the LORD."  It pleases the LORD when we as children obey their parents.  Now, if you have a parent who is directly disobeying the commands of the LORD then there is a time to make an appeal.  But for the most part your parents are teaching you how to follow God in these years and you should have an open relationship with them - tell them all your worries and problems, and talk stuff over with them.  It is important to have a good relationship with your parents so that they can guide you.

Colossians 3:20-24 ESV says "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (21) Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. (22) Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. (23) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

Proverbs 30:17 ESV says "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures."

Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV says "Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, (9) for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck."

I'm not saying that it is bad to watch movies like this - but you should watch them with a critic's mind.  You should think about what you watched and discuss it with your family.  Tangled was a cute movie that we did enjoy, but Hollywood likes to ingrain seeds of rebellion and discontent into their movies that slowly undermines the way you live.  It makes it seem ok to show contempt for parents when the Bible strictly warns you to honor your parents.  Now, what that means for me is when I see something in a movie that I think questionable I ask my parents and see for myself what the Bible says about it.  Usually my parents will see more than I do and ask me what I thought of the movie and then explain to us kids what was wrong with it.  I am so blessed to have wonderful parents that teach us the Scriptures and lead us to godliness so that we are 'prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks, to give the reason for the hope that we have.'

The Code of the Strain Express Trailer

Behind The Scenes

Here is a link to some behind the scenes stuff from 'The Code Of The Strain Express':
http://flipagram.com/f/FFPeOB7z6v

Hope you enjoy!

Also here are some more great photos:

Tikvah and Mini in the lead

I love this one! :)

"Put your hands up!"

The Strains surprised all the cast by ordering everyone a personalized coffee cup with pictures of scenes they were in!  We were thinking that we should get them a present for letting us play in their movie!

The Strain family is asking for like a $10 donation in exchange for a copy of the movie, so that they can make a trip to Israel this summer - if you are interested in helping them out please leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks!

Playing in 'The Code Of The Strain Express'

Hi y'all!  I and Caleb were privileged enough to be able to play in our friend's movie!  It is called 'The Code Of The Strain Express' and of course it is a western.  It is a sequel to 'The Riders of The Strain Express' and was awesome fun to play in.  I didn't have any talking scenes - but I am a background person.  Since this is the first movie I have ever played in I didn't want to mess up a big part too bad - so I stuck with a smaller one. :)  I am a gentlewoman in a pink dress walking around in the town scenes.  Caleb has two up close scenes - he is a cowboy - and he did really good.

This is in one of the riding scenes

This is my friend Tikvah in her bad guy outfit and me in my dress  - doesn't Tikvah look great in her costume!

Tikvah

This is me with my dress on

Another riding scene

This next week sometime we are going to go watch the first showing at the Strain's house and then it will be up on youtube - I'll post the link when it gets there!

Funny Lines from ELF

You know on the movie Elf where he is in the mall and the boss is trying to get him to work and he asks him why he is smiling, Elf answers, "smiling's my favorite" and the boss says "make work your new favorite, work's your new favorite" - Well lately when we say to Mom, "you are being weird" she jumps up and down and claps her hands and says "Oh, being weird is my favorite"  This is Mom wearing a neck muff as a hat.   Mom says this is a charming element of humor we would not have without the benefit of our dear friends in AZ:) - that is all the weird lines from Elf.

By the way my mom has a new favorite line from Captain America which we just saw in the theater this week.  Will keep you posted when she finds a funny time to use it.

 

The Wolverine

Aren't brothers cool! :)